♪ ♪ ♪
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. FOLKS, YOU KNOW MY FIRST GUEST
FROM FILMS SUCH AS "KNIVES OUT" AND "NO TIME TO DIE."
SHE NOW STARS AS MARILYN MONROE IN "BLONDE."
>> PLEASE COME. PLEASE COME.
PLEASE. >> HE'S COMING.
>> PLEASE COME. >> SHE'S COMING.
SHE'S COMING. SHE'S ALMOST HERE.
>> PLEASE COME. ♪ ♪ ♪
>> MARILYN! MARILYN!
MARILYN! MARILYN!
>> Stephen: PLEASE WELCOME ANA de ARMAS!
♪ ♪ ♪
>> Stephen: THANK YOU. LOVELY TO HAVE YOU ON.
I'VE NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO TALK TO YOU BEFORE.
>> ME, EITHER. >> Stephen: BUT I'VE BEEN A
LONG ADMIRERS OF YOURS. >> THANK YOU SO MUCH.
>> Stephen: THAT IS SUCH AN EXTRAORDINARY MOMENT.
>> YES. >> Stephen: IN THAT MOVIE.
AS I WAS SAYING TO YOU BACKSTAGE, WHO KNEW THAT ANA
de ARMAS LOOKED LIKE MARILYN MONROE.
>> NOT ME. >> Stephen: YOU DID NOT
SUSPECT IT? THIS IS-- THIS IS ONE OF THE
SCENES FROM THE MOVIE NEXT TO THE SORT OF ICONIC PHOTOGRAPH
LOOK AT THE TWO OF YOU THAT INSPIRED IT. TOGETHER.
>> YEAH. >> Stephen: AND THERE IS
ACTUALLY-- THIS IS NOT SIMPLY, YOU KNOW, THE WAY YOU NATURALLY
LOOK. THAT MOMENT RIGHT THERE, YOU
ACTUALLY TURN INTO WHAT WE THINK OF AS MARILYN.
>> RIGHT. >> Stephen: AND I'M JUST
CURIOUS, IS THE CHARACTER IN THE MOVIE, NORMA JEANE-- IF I CAN
CALL HER A CHARACTER EVEN THOUGH IT IS A BIO-PIC.
NORMA JEANNE SAYS THERE IS NO MARILYN.
IT'S NORMA JEANNE. >> YES.
>> Stephen: BUT IT FEELS LIKE MARILYN ARRIVES IN THAT MOMENT.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS HAPPENING AS AN ACTRESS YOURSELF WHO HAS
TO IS HAVE SOMETHING OF A PUBLIC PERSONA, I KNOWLEDGE.
>> YEAH, I THINK WE ALL HAVE OUR PUBLIC SELF AND OUR PRIVATE
SELF. WITH MARILYN, YOU KNOW,
EVERYTHING GETS AMPLIFIED BECAUSE THE STAR THAT SHE IS.
AND MARILYN, FOR HER, WAS SOMETHING THAT, YOU KNOW, WAS
SOMETHING THAT SHE KIND OF, LIKE, HAD TO TURN ON AND OFF
WHENEVER SHE NEEDED IO. IT WAS KIND OF LIKE A...
SOMETHING OF A SURVIVAL THING. >> Stephen:-- LIKE A COMIC
MAKING JOKES SO THE FOOTBALL TEAM WON'T BEAT HIM UP,
SOMETHING LIKE THAT. >> OKAY...
>> Stephen: THAT WAS MY EXPERIENCE.
THAT'S HOW I BECAME A COMEDIAN. >> YEAH.
SO I THINK FOR THE MOST PART IN THE MOVIE, NORMA JEANE IS
PRESENT, AND MARILYN COMES, YOU KNOW, WHENEVER SHE NEED.
>> Stephen: NOW, THE DIRECTOR ANDREW DOMINIK SAID THAT THE
MINUTE FROM, YOU KNOW, HE SAW YOU IN YOUR AUDITION, HE KNEW
THAT YOU WOULD BE HIS MARILYN. DID YOU HAVE A SENSE--
>> TAKE THREE, HE SAID. >> Stephen: TAKE THREE.
THE THIRD TIME YOU AUDITIONED, HE KNEW IT.
>> YEAH. >> Stephen: DID YOU TALK OUT
OF THERE THINKING THAT YOU HAD THE PART?
>> AH, OH, MY GOSH, NO, I DON'T THINK I DID.
I WAS JUST, LIKE, DRIVING DOWN HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD WITH THIS
VERY CHEAP BLOND WIG AND SOME KIND OF LIKE MAKEUP, AND I JUST
HAD THE FEELING THAT I DID SOMETHING GOOD.
>> Stephen: YES. >> BUT I WASN'T SURE.
I-- I -- >> Stephen: YOU WERE LITERALLY
GOING DOWN HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD IN A CAR DRESSED LIKE MARILYN
BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF RON ROW. MARILYNS
ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. >> YES, I DID.
>> Stephen: POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS.
GROWING UP IN CUBA, YOU WERE 18? >> YES.
>> Stephen: WHAT DID YOU KNOW ABOUT MARILYN?
WHAT WAS YOUR EXPOSURE. SHE'S AN INTERNATIONAL ICON, BUT
WHAT DID YOU KNOW ABOUT HER? >> I WASN'T SURE AND I ASKED MY
REMEMBERED MARILYN MOVIES ON MOM THE OTHER DAY IF SHE TV
AND SHE DEFINITELY DID. I GUESS AT THAT TIME I WASN'T
AWARE THAT SHE WAS MARILYN, YOU KNOW.
SO IT WAS LATER ON WHERE I STARTED WATCHING FILMS AFTER
STUDYING IN DRAMA SCHOOL THAT I, YOU KNOW, REALIZED THIS IS
MARILYN MONROE AND WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT SHE MEANT.
>> Stephen: ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I THINK GETS MISUNDERSTOOD
ABOUT MARILYN MONROE, OR NORMA JEANE, IS THAT VERY INTELLIGENT,
VERY THOUGHTFUL. >> YES.
>> Stephen: SHE WAS VERY WELL INFORMED ON THE ROLES THAT SHE
DID, AND HER-- THERE'S A WONDERFUL SCENE WHERE SHE SORT
OF SURPRISES ARTHUR MILLER WITH HER INSIGHT, A CHARACTER INFORMS
HIM ABOUT THE SCRIPT THAT HE ACTUALLY SHOWS HER THAT HE
DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT HIS CHARACTERS.
SORT OF FAMOUSLY SAID ABOUT HER THAT THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH HER
BEING A DUMB BLOND IS WHAT SHE WASN'T DUMB AND SHE WASN'T A
BLOND. >> THAT'S RIGHT.
>> Stephen: THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH THAT.
I WONDER, AS A YOUNG ACTRESS ON A RAPID, UPWARD TRAJECTORY, IN
WHAT WE MIGHT CALL HOLLYWOOD IN THE WORLD, IS SOME OF HER STORY
RESONANT FOR YOU, AS SOMEONE WHO IS BEAUTIFUL BUT NEEDS TO BE
TKEN SERIOUSLY AS AN ARTIST? >> ABSOLUTELY.
THOUGHT-- I WAS WONDERING WHAT I THINK AT THE BEGINNING I I
WOULD HAVE IN COMMON WITH HER. AND TO MY SURPRISE, IT WAS RAY
LOT MORE THAN I THOUGHT. AND JUST THIS OPPORTUNITY ALONE
IS ALMOST CLOSE TO, YOU KNOW, A MIRACLE.
A ROLE LIKE THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO COME MY WAY.
IT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. NOT JUST BECAUSE I'M LATINA AND
CUBAN, IT JUST DOESN'T-- THEY DON'T EXIST JUST IN GENERAL.
THIS IS SOMETHING VERY, VERY SPECIAL.
SO THE OPPORTUNITY FOR ME TO PLAY THIS PART WAS JUST, YOU
KNOW, A DREAM. >> Stephen: WE HAVE TO TAKE A
RIGHT BACK WITH MORE ANA de QUICK BREAK, BUT WE'LL BE ARMAS,
EVERYBODY, STICK AROUND. ♪ ♪ ♪
( APPLAUSE )